A Catholic Clergy Perspective: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT (A): PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD! IN REMEMBRANCE OF JESUS’ BIRTH, DEATH AND RESURRECTION; IN PREPARATION OF HIS SECOND COMING; AND FOR EACH DAY WE INTERACT WITH HIM IN THOUGHT, WORD, DEED AND SACRAMENTALLY! by Deacon Jim Merle

Friday, November 28, 2025

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT (A): PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD! IN REMEMBRANCE OF JESUS’ BIRTH, DEATH AND RESURRECTION; IN PREPARATION OF HIS SECOND COMING; AND FOR EACH DAY WE INTERACT WITH HIM IN THOUGHT, WORD, DEED AND SACRAMENTALLY! by Deacon Jim Merle

If truth is known, I am more of a procrastinator than one who has properly prepared for every contingency. My wife will tell you that it is due to my lack of organization because I like to touch papers more than once and, therefore, fall behind. In my defense, it is not that I purposefully wait, it is that I need to winnow down what I am doing to make sure I have all the bases covered that I understand and want to share with others. Having an active mind with a multitude of matter running through it causes more angst in my planning to provide a finished product. Or my standard excuse: I was ordained to say yes, and my wife supports me by helping me to balance what I need to do versus what I think I should do.

Rather than taking up space on how to improve my faults, let us focus on how we need to prepare for the way of the Lord this Advent in our daily interaction which brings us to look at all the ways we can see Jesus in our lives.

Thinking about Jesus often and daily should be easy if we are fully initiated and practicing our Catholic faith. We are considered part of His family whether we were baptized, reconciled, made your first communion and were confirmed in our childhood years or as an adult. This is especially true if we are practicing by attending Mass on Sundays, Holy Days, receiving the Sacraments and praying regularly.

Unfortunately, as much as we strive to do all the things listed above, the rest of our life that is not directly connected with the Catholic Church often takes us in different directions. We allow the world and its promises of giving us a better life to often take precedence and either through commission or omission of sins we tend to turn away from our relationship with God. Sometimes it is for a short while, and we can push the negativity away and resume walking our path of faithfulness. Other times seem to last longer, and doubt begins to cloud our thought processes, so we stray to the point of not practicing at all or rarely.

This is what Jesus is talking about in St. Matthew’s Gospel when He says: “…be prepared for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans supports this when he writes: “…put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”

Though we still remember that Jesus humbled Himself to become human to teach us the ways of the Lord, suffered and died on the cross for our sins and was risen from the dead to open the Gates of Heaven for us, we put it away as a side issue that has happened. We forget that without believing in these choices of Jesus to be obedient to the Father’s will, we would not be eligible for the eternal life God promised to us if we remain faithful to His plan for us.

When this belief fades, so does our preparation for being coordinated with what we need to do to receive eternal life. God’s promise of us being in the Kingdom of Heaven with Him forever is based on us being proactive in our thoughts, words and deeds daily; not when it seems convenient. We need to pray consistently throughout the day to ensure we are following the Lord’s ways on our faith journey. We need to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation not just because we are called to keep the Sabbath, but because we can be renewed by receiving Eucharist when we are forgiven by God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

It is through consistent nourishment of practicing our faith as fully initiated Catholics that not only do we remain faithful, but that we begin to better understand why God created us out of His love to be with Him forever in Heaven.

Let us take this first week of Advent to look at areas where we need to strengthen our resolve to be faithful to God in our life journey. This should include why He came to us 2000 years ago, why He will come to us again at the end of time to judge us and also why it is necessary and good to trust in a faith of selflessness so that all will see God’s light shine for all who believe and want to follow the ways of the Lord.

Reading 1:     Isaiah 2:1 – 5
Psalm:            122:1 – 9
Reading 2:     Romans 13:11 – 14
Gospel:          Matthew 24:37 - 44

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Bishop Kevin W. Vann, JCD, DD, D MIN

He was ordained on May 30, 1981, and was assigned to graduate studies in canon law at the Angelicum in Rome, with residence at the graduate house of the North American College, the Casa Santa Maria dell’ Umilta. Pope Leo XIV, when a priest, also attended these classes at the same time. Upon returning to the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, Father Vann participated in the work of the Diocesan Tribunal and the Tribunal of Second Instance in Chicago. He served as pastor of parishes ranging in size from 35 to 1,300 families, two which had large schools. He taught canon law at Kenrick Seminary. Before he was named bishop, he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, Vicar for Priests and the Diocesan contact for Hispanic Ministry. Bishop Vann was ordained and installed as the third bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Forth Worth, Texas, on July 13, 2005, at Texas Christian University’s Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. In Texas, he collaborated closely with other bishops through the Texas Catholic Conference and Region X, which includes dioceses of States of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He is the former Texas Bishops’ Liaison to the Texas Mission Council and Texas Catholic hospitals. And, through the U.S. Conference of Bishops, Bishop Vann was a leader in the Texas Conference of Bishops, providing leadership for various initiatives at the national level, including service on ad hoc committee which assisted the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church of the United States. On September 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced Bishop Vann’s appointment as the fourth bishop of Orange, the 11th largest diocese in the country and the second-largest west of the Mississippi with 1.3 million multicultural Catholics. He continues to lead the historic effort to transform the former Crystal Cathedral from a world-renowned center of Protestant worship into the West Coast’s most visible center of Catholicism.

Father Glenn Baaten

A priest of the ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a community with the Catholic Church made up of former Anglicans and Episcopalians. He Currently serves as Parish Administrator of St. John Henry Newman Catholic Church in Irvine and as Chaplain of Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado. His ministry within the Diocese of Orange, California, is a collaborative appointment by Bishop Steven Lopes and Bishop Kevin Vann. Fr. Glenn was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on June 24, 2016, the Feast of St. John the Baptist. His journey to the Catholic Church followed years of faithful ministry in Protestant communities. He was ordained a Presbyterian pastor in 1998 and served a PCUSA parish in Cincinnati, Ohio. After returning to California in 2010, he discerned a call to Anglican ministry and was ordained in the Church of England tradition in 2013. He relinquished his Anglican holy orders and, after catechesis, was received into the Church on Christmas eve of that year. Fr. Glenn has been married to Cathy for 42 years. They are the blessed parents of two adult children and grandparents of three. His ministry is marked by a strong commitment to evangelization, Christian unity and sacred beauty of the liturgy. As a follower of Christ these many past decades – most especially as a priest – Fr. Glenn is committed to sharing the grace and love of Jesus to all and living the depth of that faith in the fulness of the Catholic Church.

Deacon Jim Merle

Deacon Jim was ordained 20 years ago on April 30, 2005, and lives in Southern California where he has served the Catholic Church on parish, diocesan and national levels. He periodically writes Pastoral Letters for church bulletins, as well as articles for the Diaconate community’s “Bowl & Towel” and the diocesan newspaper in addition to “A Catholic Deacon’s Perspective,” recently renamed “A Catholic Clergy’s Perspective” with the addition of Bishop Kevin W. Vann and Fr. Glenn Baaten as periodic writers. On the parish level he has served at three parishes involved in helping with Sacramental training, Faith Formation and annulments. His diocesan involvements include a six-year term on the Diaconate Personnel Board, a founding committee member of the God’s Servants Committee (an educational component of quarterly meetings for active deacons), as a Master of Ceremonies at Confirmations, ordinations, installations and other ceremonies, an Advanced Master Catechist Certification to teach theological and certification classes and recently was selected to head up a Deanery Council of Deacons and their wives to support their ordination faculties and activities in each of the seven deaneries. On a local and national level, he coordinated the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) diocesan board for 14 years. CCHD is the domestic social justice arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which distribute parishioner’s donations for non-profit organizations to empower the impoverished, marginalized and disenfranchised who have social justice needs. In his early career he was a writer/reporter for a well-known Chicago newspaper, as well as owning a public relations/advertising firm. He is now semi-retired and works parttime in two professional practices he owns. On a personal note, he is married 57 years, helped rear four children with his wife, a grandfather to 10 grandchildren and a great grandfather to six great grandchildren.

BLOG INTRODUCTION

Scripture is like the eyes into God’s soul. Whether from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) or the New Testament, we can garner, as best we can, who God is (what He feels and how He thinks in human terms). The original and current purpose of this blog, which began in 2019, is to take a three-year cycle of A, B and C Gospels and readings from each Sunday and provide a perspective as it pertains to our current lives as seen through the eyes of a Catholic clergy who serve Catholics in words and deeds per their ordination. Since completing the three-year cycles, it has been expanded to investigate the areas of Commentaries, Scripture and Theology. It is because of that the blog will now have writings from Bishop Kevin Vann, Ordinary of the Diocese of Orange, California, Father Glenn Baaten, a former Anglican priest, ordained into the Roman Catholic Church as a priest, and Deacon Jim Merle, who recently celebrated his 20th year ordination and started this blog. Bishop Vann and Father Glenn will author articles on a periodic basis based upon the time they have to devote to the blog. Deacon Jim will continue to offer weekly articles, still based on the three-year cycle along with various current events that challenge us to balance our humanity with our spiritual lives. The hope is that you, our subscribers, will see this as something of value to help you grow closer to the Lord.